ESTELLE MANDEVILLE
STAFF WRITER
Over this past Christmas break, Student Government and Information Technology (IT) partnered to address a long-present need by installing 21 new printers across the Franciscan University of Steubenville campus.
“This has been something that Student Government has been wanting to do for quite a while now,” said senior Gabe Gessler, Student Government president. “What has been really awesome is that the university administration really cares about what the students think.”
The new printer initiative began because of the interest shown by Franciscan students. “We do this thing called Student Government on the Hill, where we have surveys,” said Gessler, “and one of the surveys was about print usage and print management. Overwhelmingly, people said, ‘Let’s get printers in the dorms.’”
The idea of new and better printers was brought to the Student Government’s IT committee, on which Gessler also serves, and the committee began to work toward finding a printing solution for the university.
Gessler credited the success of the new printer initiative in large part to the help of Nancy Oliver, director of IT.
“She really deserves a lot of the credit and a lot of the praise because she really listened to student concerns through and through, and she did all the front-end work helping this come about with the company ComDoc,” he said. “She really listened to our concerns and spearheaded this project when she has a million different things to do. It’s just another example of how this administration really cares about their students.”
The students also approve of the decision. Junior Anne Marie DiProperzio said, “I like how they’re more accessible, especially if you have an 8 o’clock class.”
Sophomore Jackie Kamis agreed with DiProperzio, saying that she appreciates not “hav(ing) to pay someone $20 to use their printer at 3 a.m.”
According to Gessler, the university is also trying to universalize its printing capacity because the expanded resources may save the university money in the long run.
“I want to thank my team and also all the students who voiced their concerns and who were comfortable speaking with us,” said Gessler. “Also, I really want to give high praises to Nancy Oliver and the IT department for really just exemplifying the spirit of St. Francis and really listening to the students. It’s such a difficult job, especially in today’s tech day and age, to be on top of the ball.”